Was this the norm in your school?

[alli_wan]

Our state (New York) mandated a certain number of labs needed to be performed per class, so science classes had 1.5 periods a day (but they were broken up such that you had two periods one day, but only one the next day, and if the scheduling gods smiled on you, you took gym on the alternating days in the empty slot).  AP science classes met for 2 periods a day, every day and took gym every day but for only half the year.  We had 9 40ish minute periods a day and there were still overachievers who didn't have a lunch period, but one semester I had lunch at 9:30 in the morning and 2 study halls (on alternate days).

[ShadesOfGrey]

The entire US education is so messed up - I cant even get started on it or I will never stop.  Subjugating healthy eating habits to a science lab BLOWS my mind, but then again, so did the reduction in PE and music/art classes.... (and not having enough time in a day to do a science lab, for that matter!)
 

ho hum.  In an ideal world, I would become somebody really important who would literally scrap the way we have our education system set up for something that actually works for our society (we are no longer an agrarian society...)   

[Sophia]

That's really bad. In the area I lived in some of the kids ate their main meal at school. If they missed lunch they'd pretty much eat nothing else all day. Sounds an absolute nightmare to me.

I remember that now.  I was sort of friends with a girl named 'The' in High School.  Her mother was still in North Vietnam, but the rest of the family had escaped.  They were saving up bribe money to get the mom out.  I remember she talked about her father giving her grief for putting butter in the rice because it was wasteful.  The school cafeteria was her only source of meat or vegetables. 

I ran into The in college.  I had always wondered about her mom, so I asked. That is one my top 5 regrets.  Her face just fell.  Her mom had died coming over. 

[Lisbeth]

When I was in middle school, I went to a school that had students with various disabilities whose teacher allowed them to cut in the cafeteria line.  A couple of times I went through the line and no sooner had I got out than lunch period was over.  I had to immediately dump my lunch and go to class.

[MelJill]

I tried posting this before the crash, so I'll try to re-construct my thoughts.

When I was in high school, we had 55 minute periods except for "fourth hour" which actually consisted of four 25 minute segments (with 5 minute pass periods in between each).

So, your fourth hour class would meet for 4AB or 4BC or 4CD.  Then one of the segments was "homeroom" in the same classroom as the two segment class, and the final segment was the actual lunch time.

Under a plan like that, I could see making science that needed a 1-1/2 period be fourth hour only, and ditching the 'homeroom' time for added lab time.

Even so, I took both biology and chemistry (in different years) and never once did our labs require more consecutive time than one class period (some were multi-day by design, though).

[Venus193]

When I think of how many lunches I have missed at work in the last 25 years due to stuff I sometimes wonder how many bosses (and clients) went through the "no lunch on Tuesdays because of Chem Lab" syndrome.

This has never been a good idea.

[Sterling]

I went to a private school and we always have a 30 minute lunch break during our 5th period class.  Seniors could leave and there were several places right next to the school.  Most walked over to grab food.  Our caf. had a pretty good selection.  I brought my lunch because I am a picky eater.  My cafe also served breakfast from 7 am till after our morning break which was 15 minutes and at 9 am.

In the public schools here they serve breakfast before the first class and lunch.  Everyone always had a full lunch break.  They also had a program where you could apply and recieve free lunch and breakfast from 1st grade all the way through high school.  They actually added the breakfast because they reaslized that many of these kids only ate at school.

All labs were held in class and it was the teachers job to find a way to teach every thing in the time given.  But it seems that many schools today require a lot more classes than 10 years ago.

[CocoCamm]

I was shocked when I read the article, then even more shocked that for many posters this was the norm in school. I would like to say as someone who loves her food~thank God I went to parochial school. When you pay that much in tuition you get to eat. 

[megswsu]

No lunch is going a bit far. We had 30 min everyday and labs were held during class. However we did have block periods twice a week that extended 2 classes in the morning to two hours each. So Tues 1 & 3 periods were long, Thurs 2 & 4 periods were long (or something like that). My understanding was that was done to give more time for the science classes. But either way we still had our lunch everyday.

[Lisbeth]

Are diabetic kids supposed to go hungry on lab days? 

[Venus193]

Are diabetic kids supposed to go hungry on lab days? 

I honestly can't recall an example of that.  Since I'm a type 2 diagnosed in the second half century, I wouldn't have had any personal experience of this.

[Lizmo]

I'm surprised this is allowed to happen, with the big push for "wellness" plans in the schools.  Kids need to eat healthy foods, balanced meals, get the proper amount of exercise, etc. Wellness plans are being pushed big time in certain parts of the country, and I can't imagine missing lunch once a week would quite fit the criteria in one of those...

[CocoCamm]

I'm surprised this is allowed to happen, with the big push for "wellness" plans in the schools.  Kids need to eat healthy foods, balanced meals, get the proper amount of exercise, etc. Wellness plans are being pushed big time in certain parts of the country, and I can't imagine missing lunch once a week would quite fit the criteria in one of those...

Exactly! It would seem to me that missing lunch everyday is almost as bad as the kids who just eat twinkies and junk food for lunch.

[magicdomino]

Back in the dark ages, we had 30 minutes for lunch, and lab classes had to take place within a normal 50 minute class.  I suspect the teachers had to do some setting up before classes, in order to get things done.

My usual less-than-nutritious lunch was two ice cream sandwiches.  I kept the remaining lunch money. 

[Evil Duckie]

This is not the norm where my kids go to school and was not the norm when I was in school.

This sounds more like my schedule in college.

Eating in lab is a big "No". It is too easy to either get something in your food and/or to get food in your experiment and both are not good.